Profile: Joel Griffiths

With Australia set to face Ghana in a friendly this Friday as preparation for four crucial World Cup qualifiers in June, several fringe Socceroos are readying themselves up for what could be a career-defining month.

One of those players is Joel Griffiths, whose career has taken an unusual path.

Griffiths, 28, is now primed to make his biggest impact on international football following a season of great success in the Hyundai A-League with the Newcastle Jets having won not only the league championship with his club but also personally he claimed the Johnny Warren Medal (for the league’s best player) and the Golden Boot award (for most goals).

For the Sydney-born forward, it has been a difficult journey after such a promising start to his career when he burst onto the scene in the old National Soccer League with Sydney United as an 18 year-old.

At 19 years of age at Sydney United, Griffiths partnered current Socceroo and Derby County forward Mile Sterjovski in a young attack which took the club to a minor premiership and Grand Final in 1999.The pair went onto to be part of the Australian under-20 team later that year in the FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria, along with others such as current Serie A players Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella. Needless to say, it was a big year for Griffiths.

But while his under-20s team mates moved onto careers in Europe, Griffiths endured a tough spell following a move to new NSL franchise Parramatta Power. Unfortunately for Griffiths, things didn’t work out as well as hoped and the next few years he struggled to live up to expectations.

So in 2001 he decided to make the move north from Sydney to Newcastle. It proved a good decision, as he scored 25 goals in 46 appearances in a successful stint with the Jets before thoughts finally moved to a career in Europe.

His European destination would be Neuchâtel, home of Xamax, a tiny club from the Swiss Super League. While it wasn’t a move to a major club, it was a move to Europe, where Griffiths hoped to catch the eye of Socceroo selectors.

Griffiths’ spell in Switzerland was one of transformation for the blonde surfer-turned-striker. The Australian was played as a wide midfielder for Xamax and while he didn’t find the back of the net as much anymore, he certainly made an impact for a side trying to find their feet in the top flight.

It led to interest from English Championship side Leicester City but also interest from the national team. Finally and coincidentally with the appointment of Guus Hiddink as coach of the Socceroos, Griffiths was set for a dream call-up.

At the time Griffiths was candid about his international career, "to be honest, I'd sort of given up on the idea."

Finally on October 9 2005, Griffiths made his full national team debut as Australia trounced Jamaica 5-0 in London. Griffiths memorably came off the bench to score a goal on debut and followed it up by celebrating like a hopping kangaroo. It was a great moment for Griffiths and all this was in the lead up to the 2006 World Cup.

Griffiths was in his final year of his contract with Neuchâtel Xamax at this time and thoughts had drifted to life at a bigger club. The Xamax player said at the time, “I'm out of contract at the end of the season and I'll be ready to go. England is where I'd like to be.”

For whatever reason this mindset seemed to haunt Griffiths as he attempted to make the move from Switzerland. His form dropped with Xamax as the side languished towards the bottom of the Swiss table.

Then when Hiddink named the Australian team to play Uruguay in the crucial two-legged World Cup qualifiers, Griffiths missed the cut.

But that wasn’t close to the worst of it. In January 2006, Griffiths thought he had found his dream deal when he signed an 18-month contract with English Championship side Leeds United but it all went a little crazy.

First of all his move to Leeds was delayed after Xamax failed to issue international clearance for the transfer. Leeds reported Xamax to FIFA and the saga dragged on for several weeks.

When Griffiths finally received his clearance to play his struggled to make the first team. Their were rumours he didn’t get on with coach Kevin Blackwell but for whatever reason he only made two substitute appearances before the season ended and so did his time with Leeds. The two parted ways after an unhappy marriage with Griffiths returning to Australia.

All this occurred in the crucial build-up to the 2006 World Cup. Griffiths’ hopes of being part of Hiddink’s 23-man squad in Germany rapidly faded as he was frozen out at Leeds. In the end, Griffiths was barely even considered by Hiddink. Indeed, it was a grim time for Griffiths.

So Griffiths returned to Newcastle to play in the A-League as he reached his late twenties. It was a big gamble for his career, but perhaps one he had to take.

At the Jets he played alongside attacking players such as Socceroo Nick Carle and former Colombian international Milton Rodriguez. It worked well though, as Newcastle climbed to third in the league and Griffiths scored 6 goals for the season to win the club’s Member’s Player of the Year.

When Carle and Rodriguez both departed before the 2007-2008 season, many doubted whether Newcastle could continue to be a top-side but Griffiths filled the void and led the way incredibly.

And while the season went well, it wasn’t without typical Griffiths controversy, when he seemed to punch a referee in an A-League match in November and then somehow escaped punishment.

But the performances on the field were the main talking point about Griffiths, as he produced a season not seen before by an individual in the A-League.

Griffiths fired home 12 goals during the 21-game regular-season before scoring another two goals during the finals series as Newcastle claimed its first national title. Griffiths too, would later claim the league’s, as well as his club’s, best and fairest award to cap a stellar season.

Since returning to Australia following his unsuccessful spell with Leeds, Griffiths has regularly been part of national team squads comprised of A-League players. It has been a feature of Australian football since the move into Asia that national team camps are held regularly and often those camps are made up of only A-league players. So opportunities with the national team have opened up for homegrown players like Griffiths.

But with the next month of football coming up for the Socceroos being so important with regard to World Cup qualification, Australia are calling on all the European big guns. Nonetheless, Griffiths name is more often being bandied around as a key Socceroo these days even though he’s not based in Europe. Now it seems he is set to get his opportunity, the question remains, can he finally take it?